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Sunday, February 06, 2011

Star Mangled Banner

You've really got to be creative to screw up the national anthem so badly.

Tens of millions watched Christina Aguilera suffer a lyric malfunction while singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl tonight.

The five time Grammy award winner flubbed the fourth line of the song most learn in kindergarden.

Aguilera's new version was, "Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, what so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming."

The correct lyrics are: "Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming."

Aguilera, dressed in a black knee-length dress and flowing white collar that matched her platinum hair, seemed to try and make up for the goof by loading up the rest of the song with over-the-top flourishes and warbling notes that also have never been part of the national anthem.

Her flub immediately lit up Twitter where thousands of viewers ripped the singer to shreds.

On the upside, by the time that horror show at halftime concluded most people probably already forgot about this.

Next time they hold the Super Bowl in Dallas, put Christina in Jerry Jones' box at the 50-yard-line and have her sing the National Anthem with the words scrolling on the 60-yard-wde Jumbotron over the field. She might have a 50-50 chance of getting it right then (alternative option -- wait three years and have her sing it at the Super Bowl in the Meadowlands. If she screws it up there, 80,000 people can pelt her with snowballs).

Pathetic. She later said that she "got lost in the moment". Nice try. The mangled verses were bad enough but the self indulgent "it's all about me" performance was worse. Folks, if you have the honor to be asked to sing the anthem of your country, learn the words and sing them as written. Period. Country Singers seem to get this why not stick with them?